Class Notes Class: IX topic: the fun they had subject: english textual questions

Long Answer Questions:- 
 
TEXTUAL QUESTIONS:- 
 
 
1. What are the main features of the mechanical teachers and the schoolrooms that Margie 
and Tommy have in the story? 
A. Margie and Tommy were taught by mechanical teachers. They had large black screens on 
which the lessons appeared. The lessons were followed by questions. The students had to 
insert homework and test papers in the slots provided. They had to write down the work in a 
punch code which was a computing language. The mechanical teacher checked the papers 
and gave them marks within a few seconds. These classrooms were in the student’s home 
itself. Every student studied from his respective mechanical teacher. Each teacher was 
adjusted according to the level of the learner. They did not have classmates. They studied 
various subjects like Geography, History and Mathematics. Margie studied everyday at the 
same time except Saturdays and Sundays. Her mother said that she would learn better if she 
studied that way. The learning process was mechanical, dull and boring for them. 
2. Why did Margie hate school? Why did she think the old kind of school must have been 
fun? 
A. Margie hated school because it was not fun. There was a mechanical teacher and the 
learning process lacked life. It was like a machine carrying out the usual working, there was 
nothing new, no fun or laughter.
Margie’s mechanical teacher was giving her tests in 
Geography and she was performing bad at them. Later it was discovered that the teacher 
had developed a faul
t due to which it was giving her tests of a higher level. Margie’s mother 
called the County Inspector. He opened the teacher, found the fault and rectified it. Margie 
disliked the teacher and hoped that he would not be able to repair it. She hated inserting the 
homework and test papers into the slot provided. 
She thought that the children in the past must have had a lot of fun when they went to school 
with fellow children. She found it amazing that all the children studied together, the same 
things and could discuss studies and help each other with the homework too. As the 

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teachers were people, they would not behave like machines. The human aspect of education 
in the past made her feel that the schools of the past were fun. 
3. 
Do you agree with Margie
that schools today are better than the schools in the story ‘The 
Fun They Had’. Give reasons for your 
answer. 
Yes: In the story The Fun They Had writer Isaac Asimov talks about the schools of the future. 
In this future, school is a room in the house where each child is taught by a mechanical 
teacher and there are telebooks on television screens. 
After reading the story, I think that we pupils in the present should be satisfied. I agree an 
individual teacher for each child can work better and more intensively with the pupil and 
when the parents set the school time a child can have flexible school hours. If the 
school(room) is at home, the children do not have to walk or drive so far and this saves time 
and money. 
But on the other hand, we lose an opportunity for social contacts. The most important 
advantage we have today is we have contact with other kids, in the breaks we can talk to 
each other and we have fun with them. Pupils solve problems together 
–
very important for 
the later life and the development of a child. And a human teacher is definitely a better 
educator than a machine because he knows the problems of humans and children. A 
machine will never be able to feel like a human. Moreover, a human teacher can provide 
valuable guidance and values that a mechanical teacher cannot.